Couche-Tard Tinkers With Statoil Deal

Adjusts per-share price offer down, announced dividend

LAVAL, Quebec & Oslo, Norway -- Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. said yesterday that it has adjusted the per-share price on its successful offer to purchase Scandinavian convenience store and gasoline retailer Statoil Fuel & Retail ASA, which it announced last week. Couche-Tard is adjusting its offer price per share from 53 Krone ($9.22 U.S.) to 51.20 Krone ($8.93 U.S.) in accordance with the rules of disclosure dated April 19, 2012.

The change, issued without explanation, brings the price tag on the deal down from $2.8 billion to $2.679 billion.

Couche-Tard also announced that following the decision approved at the annual general shareholders meeting of Statoil Fuel & Retail ASA, on or about May 9, 2012, Statoil will pay a dividend per share of 1.80 Norwegian Krone (31 cents U.S.) on each of Statoil Fuel & Retail's 300 million issued and outstanding shares.

Oslo, Norway-based Statoil Fuel & Retail is a leading Scandinavian fuel retailer with more than 100 years of operations in the region. It has a broad retail network across Scandinavia, Poland, the Baltics and Russia with approximately 2,300 full-service (fuel and convenience) or automated (fuel-only) stations.

Including employees at Statoil branded franchise stations, about 18,500 people work at its sites across Europe, in its corporate headquarters, its eight national headquarters, its terminals and depots.

Laval, Quebec-based Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. is the leader in the Canadian convenience-store industry. In North America, Couche-Tard is the largest independent convenience-store operator (whether integrated with a petroleum corporation or not) in terms of number of company-operated stores. As of Jan. 29, 2012, Couche-Tard had a network of 5,817 convenience stores, 4,225 of which include motor fuel dispensing. At the same date, the corporation had agreements for the supply of motor fuel to 338 sites operated by independent operators. Couche-Tard's network consists of 13 business units, including nine in the United States covering 42 states and the District of Columbia (primarily under the Circle K flag), and four in Canada covering all 10 provinces (primarily under the Mac's and Couche-Tard flags).